Rus’ and After Rus’

When speaking about Rus’, it is crucial not to project modern political categories backward into the Middle Ages. The historical vocabulary of that world was shaped by princely rule, church organization, urban life, trade routes, and dynastic competition.

After the shocks of the thirteenth century and the breakdown of the old equilibrium, different lands of the Rus’ world were drawn into different political orbits. Some became tied to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some to Poland, while the north-eastern centers followed another path under the combined pressure of Horde politics and local centralization.

This is why there is no single straight line of succession after Rus’. There are multiple trajectories, and these trajectories later generate different political cultures, memories, and claims to heritage.